Finding Friends

The past week or so has been a puzzle to me. I feel motivated. I am still doing all of the planning and prep. I am waking up early to get going and sticking with the plan (and hello!!! Me waking up early??? I feel like I deserve a medal just for that alone!). But some of the workouts have just kind of sucked. Sucked might be a too strong of a word. Maybe a more accurate description would be to say that everything hasn't come together.

For starters, I no longer have a master's swim class. I went from having an Olympian as my coach on deck to absolutely nothing. I was seeing huge strength gains in my swim and my motivation was sky high, as was my yardage and overall quality of the workouts. And now, nothing. No coach- no class. Just a nasty, 86+ degree pool.

The run seems to be suffering a tad bit as well. My long run last week to my parent's home did not roll as well as I would have liked (understatement) as I suffered through the heat and humidity. That tempo run yesterday? I think my marathon pace is faster.

Okay, so maybe the run didn't turn out to be so great this past Sunday, but hanging out with my parents was fun! Here is a picture my mom took of me post run with Cayenne. She took this on her new Ipad, which is so weird to me as I hate technology and I think it is so weird my mom has more technology than I.

So, finding friends...

The other day, I got a great phone call from a teammate, Steve, who said he noticed I looked "droopy" at the pool. He called to encourage me to stay motivated, and to say that a small group of swimmers will meet with me and help me get through my workouts with a little more pep for the next few months. I appreciated the thoughtfulness more than I could express. I do need some friends to push me in the pool. Left to my own devices, I will stay the same speed for-ev-er.

And after a very sub-par tempo run, again, I realized what I needed. Friends!!!!! I can't do every bit of training by myself, and that is exactly what I have been doing for the past 2 months. All of my swims and runs have been solo.

This morning I made sure to meet up with some guy friends for my bike intervals. And yes, it was a lot easier and more fun than going at it alone. It is not just about the company, I think I need that little push. I don't need any type of push for aerobic work, I can do that all day long by myself. But, sometimes I do need that push for the tempo-type work, especially when the heat slows me down and takes some of the zip out of my step.

So, I am going to try to plan a little more time with some groups and friends. It is sometimes tough to plan with others because I am limited by my own work schedule, but I am definitely going to try to plan my next tempo run with a friend (any takers?), and I am not going to give up on the swim!

Back At It

Today I felt like I was back in action after a 3ish week semi-break post half ironman/vacay. I have to say, I actually hated the down time. I felt out of sorts. I swear my body didn't like it either. I think it has started to rely on the daily dose of adrenaline and exercise. I didn't feel great this week, although I should have been rested from vacation. Go figure.

Luckily I had a normal-ish looking ironman workout on my schedule today (long ride +brick) and completed a 92 mile ride/5.5 mile brick run. Thank goodness. Everything within my control went well, and although I tried to beat the heat, I think I might just have to let that one go. Honestly, if leaving your front door at 5:20am is not early enough, I don't know what else to do.

Normally I would never stop at 92- I would go to 100. I like round numbers. I can't stand 2900 pool workout or 3800 or whatever. A 9.7 mile run? No way. I will just do the extra laps and make it a round number. Today I let the weird compulsion go and called it quits at 92. I thought... "what is the value of 8 more very, very hot, slow miles on the bike + an even hotter brick run versus the long run I have planned tomorrow and everything else on my schedule?" I think I am learning how to better focus on the workout at hand- yet keep in mind that consistency far outweighs any one daily workout. So, if I am slowing down, frying to a crisp, and getting dehydrated at mile 92? I call it a day and prepare for my next, equally important workout.

So, tomorrow I have a long run, and thus the planning begins. I think I will do one of my favorite runs- my house to my parents' house. The beauty of this run is you actually feel like you are accomplishing something with your run as opposed to just running in a circle. I leave my house...and then I get to knock on my parents' door and ask for some breakfast and a ride home:) It is really fun to actually "destination run."

And so I just realized I only have 3 weeks until my next race- Racine 70.3. And 77 days until Wales. A lot of time...yet not nearly enough time. You know?

Navarre 2011

51 more weeks until Navarre...

My annual Roberts' family vacation with the Louisiana/Texas Krewe has come and gone.

My vacation looks pretty much the same year to year. I read a lot of trashy books. This year, I managed 5 books- with one "intellectual" read thrown in just to make my family think I have some brain cells left.

I think there are 28 of us in our vacation group? Some nights we all eat together, and some nights (like the picture above), we split up and wine and dine in the condos.

A family picture with Dave's parents.

No one knew I was an expert at the hoola-hoop. I might sound a little cocky, but I was 8th grade hoola-hoop champion. You have NO IDEA how much practice I put into the hoola-hoop in order to beat Meredith Smith for the crown. We battled for YEARS- and finally, my hard work paid off and the hoola-hoop crown was MINE!!!!
When everyone thought it would be fun to "try" to hoola hoop after a day of drinking, I was able to showcase my very best talent. Effortless! Ha ha!!!!!

Us again.

Our vacay dinners are top notch. We never eat out- ever. We have the best meals around. Here, the boys put together a dinner with fresh fish that they caught the day before and boiled shrimp/corn/potatoes. Yummmm!!!!!!!!!

It should come as no surprise that I gained 5 pounds over the week. If you saw the food menu for the week, you would understand. I am sure the "who wants a boat drink?" at 10am every day didn't help me either. Or the fact that I ate cookies and rum cake all day long for a snack. Come to think of it, I don't think I ate a single piece of fruit and hardly a vegetable the whole week. No wonder my body is in complete shock right now and going through detox.

Some good years....

Gorgeous sunsets every night...

One of our legendary Jenga games. We did not beat Jenga this year, though, like we did in 2009.

The immediate family: James, Stephanie, Dave, Damie, Joe, Carol, Judy, and Pop Pop